Syria Burning: ISIS and the Death of the Arab Spring. By Charles Glass. OR Books; 137 pages; $16 and £11.
The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria. By Samar Yazbek. Translated by Nashwa Gowanlock and Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp. Rider; 280 pages; £20.
FEW dispute that the war in Syria is a tragedy. But the question of what people are fighting about has been bitterly contested since the crisis broke out in 2011. Among many narratives, some see it as a battle of jihadist rebels, including Islamic State, against the nominally secular Assad regime. Others view it as a regional sectarian war between Muslims, fuelled by the proxy conflict between Iran’s Shia rulers on one side and on the other the Sunni states of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
One reason why views are so divergent is that it is very hard for anyone to gain access to all areas of the conflict, territory or individuals involved. The Assad regime only wants journalists to see its version of events, so anyone outside Syria has had to make a choice: to report using an official visa, which means being strictly...
from The Economist: Books and arts http://ift.tt/1Hi2qPK
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